[Development of a ground-based experimental facility for space cultivation of higher plant]

A ground-based experimental facility was developed for conducting initial ground-based simulation study of Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS). The facility is composed of a main chamber, O2 and CO2 composition control subsystems, plant cultivation subsystem and whole data management subsystem. The growth room, being composed of a inner wall of mirror-face stainless steel, holds a volume of 1.8 m3 and a growing area of 1.2 m2; electronic fluorescent lamps were used as lighting sources and polyvinyl formal was used for root matrixes; the environmental parameters of the growing room such as temperature, relative humidity, O2 concentration, CO2 concentration, lighting period and irradiance intensity and the nutrient parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen concentration, liquid level of nutrient storage tank and flow rate of nutrient were all controlled automatically; all of the above-mentioned parameters can be inspected, collected, stored and printed regularly and dynamically. The results of a combined debugging and preliminary plant cultivation verified that the technical target of the facility had reached its initial design requirements, it can be used to conduct ground-based simulation studies of space cultivation of higher plants.